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Show America's Ten Big Problems Unequal Speed In Technical Progress Cauaea Trouble; Better Timing Needed - - This is th second article In a series in which Professor William Fielding Ogburn discusses what he considers the ton biggest problems prob-lems facing America., By WILLIAM FIELDING OGBUBN, Research Dlreeter, the President's CeeasaiUe ea Reseat BeeiaJ Trends (Written for th Associated Press.) The rapid growth of machines is a characteristic of modern life. Steam, electric and gasoline power applied to machines have produced cities, railroads, factories and are changing rural Ufa. The automobile has aided the growth of suburbs, affected the life in villages. Increased the burden of our courts, almoat wrecked th railroads, rail-roads, consolidated churches and schools, rendered nearly negligible the boundary lines of counties, increased in-creased touring, affected hotel life, reduced the number of household servants, modified horn Ufa, changed Sunday recreation, aided criminals, and modified our manners man-ners and morale. SOCIAL CHANGES LAO But these social changes follow and do not precede th technological changes. There Is a delay lag. The machine killed millions and maimed tens of millions before accident acci-dent prevention and workmen's compensation com-pensation war developed. Th tin can has helped to bring woman suffrage, suf-frage, yet there remains the Ideology that woman's place is in th home. The automobile and the telephone have produced the metropolitan re-i re-i gion, which is still, however, without . an adequate government The boundaries of counties were 1 l-l ,... 4 A . i , v j Fitting Society to Machine Era x , estioo o I eaoo O" Pcn-ioo o ADjuSTMBMT jMAi-AOjUf TMgMlj AOJUSTMfNT rg tOTTAOt DVMTty lWA.TOV SX.TtM tNTIRS ICJ (Q MCMi"tt) ' I Customs and popular beliefs lag behind the march of science and technology, giving rise ta periods el maladjustment nntll eastoma an harmonised with the new development, saya Professor William F. Or-bnrn, Or-bnrn, reaearcb director ef the preaident's emmille an recent serial trends, shown above discussing the principle of "social lag" with Edward Stanley of the Associated Press. The chart below shews hew this "lag" 1 has affected the place ef women In recent years. a hors could travel and at a time when wealth was in farms; these boundsries still persist with an antiquated anti-quated government inadequat to meet their social needs in th ag of cities and the automobile. Steam took the household Industries Indus-tries and placed them in factories and the family has never made satisfsc-tory satisfsc-tory adjustment. INSTITUTIONS CHANGE SLOWLY It thus comes about that our great social Institutions, such as industry, government, the family and the church, are lagging behind the changes which have taken place in our technological development. The changes in our society are occurring oc-curring at unequal rates of speed. It is as though the parts of a watch were changing, soma rapidly and others slowly, and the watch wasn't keeping good time; for society Is Interrelated like a wstch rather than like a chain. A change In Industry affect educe- speed up those that are coming too'w lowly. In most cases, especially where machines have already been put to use, there Is no chance to undo the work alerady dona. Nothing la left In such case but to speed up th social changes. Tomorrow: "Giant Indastry and Geverasseat." The regalatiea ef a large aphere f ssnas affairs haa been passing f rem two great instil o-tlens, o-tlens, the family and the ehareh, to two ether expanding rraaisatlene, Indastry and the atate. Aa eatstand-. Ing prebleas far the remainder ef this eentary Is what shall Be the relationship relation-ship ef government and Indastry? Ceeamanism and faaclam are net the only possibilities. Qaestieas ef prep- i erty and the dlstrlbatlen ef wealth are : taking new farms. Professor Ogham1 points eat In his aext article. (Copyright, 1833.) non, international relations, the family, fam-ily, the growth of cities, government TECHNOLOGY SETS PACE , Most of our social problems r due to the fact that the parts of our Interrelated In-terrelated civilization are not changing chang-ing at equal rates of speed. Technology is playing th tun to which most of our social life and institutions in-stitutions are dancing. The situation has become so bad that it has been recommended that all invention and scientific discovery be stopped until th rest of society can catch up. Thus th men whose Jobs have been taken away from them by machines would like to see all th labor-saving devices stopped. This is the basis of the popularity of technocracy. But the answer Is not th stopping ; of mechanical invention, but the ' speeding up of social Invention unemployment un-employment insurance,' city msn-1 msn-1 agers, marital clinics, etc. Th ma- chines are running ahead of us. We must either slow up the chsnges that are coming too fast or |